I was appalled and heartbroken to see this news, John:

It's almost impossible to wrap my head around the fact that, again, people are being forced to make the traumatic journey to Mexico to obtain desperately needed and essential reproductive care. It's a journey I had to make myself – one that continues to live with me.

When I was a teenager, I got pregnant. And with the help of my mother, I made the decision to get an abortion. But with no access to the health care I needed in the United States, I had to travel from my home in California to Mexico to receive an abortion.

I knew that I could die because, at the time, Black women were disproportionately dying from septic abortions. And I knew that I could be put in jail because it was a criminal offense. It was traumatizing – and the fact that more people today are facing the same situation that I did is devastating.

John, I never wanted us to go back here. That's why I've been working for decades to protect access to abortion and why I feel that it's so important to share my story when our reproductive freedoms are under unprecedented attack.

But with access to abortion constantly being degraded, we must do more. I'm looking for at least 5,000 supporters to add their names to my petition before midnight to stand with me in the fight for reproductive justice – and I want to see your name on the list, John.

So please, will you add your name now to join my fight to protect and expand reproductive freedom? We must do everything in our power to keep us from going back.

Thank you.

– Barbara Lee